The study investigates how the composition and character of aid of Swedish aid has changed over time, and what effects these changes have had for the potential to realize key aspects of the Paris agenda such as ownership, alignment, harmonisation, and accountability and the ability to deliver aid efficiently. We analyse the changes in Swedish aid flows since 1990 and compare with changes in the global pattern in terms of purpose, country allocation, channels, and modalities. We discuss how these changes are likely to have affected the efficiency of Sweden as a donor. We conclude with a discussion about the future direction of Swedish aid.

In the context of the global land rush, some portray large-scale land acquisitions as a potent threat to the livelihoods of already marginalized rural farming households in Africa. In order to avoid the potential pitfall of studying a particular project that may well have atypical effects, this paper systematically investigates the impact on commercial farm wage incomes for rural smallholder households of all pledged investments in the agricultural sector in Zambia between 1994 and 2007. The results suggest that agricultural investments are associated with a robust moderate positive effect, but only for households with a relative shortage of land.

This paper seeks to quantify the effects of improved donor coordination on aid effectiveness. Empirical estimates are first provided of the reductions in transaction costs that can be achieved by better donor coordination via concentration to fewer partner countries and a shift from project aid to program-based approaches. Further estimates are presented showing how much could be gained in terms of poverty reduction by optimizing aid allocation across countries. The potential poverty reduction would be huge, but there are severe political implementation constraints. The paper concludes that much could be gained in terms of aid effectiveness from improved donor coordination.

It is often assumed that disability reduces the marginal utility of income. In this article, individuals' marginal utility of income in two states—(i) paralyzed in both legs from birth and (ii) not mobility impaired at all—is measured through hypothetical choices between imagined lotteries behind a so‐called veil of ignorance. The outcomes of the lotteries include both income and disability status. It is found that most people have higher marginal utility when paralyzed than when not mobility impaired at all. The two marginal utilities are evaluated at the same levels of income.Having personal experience of mobility impairment and supporting the Left Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Green Party, or the Liberal Party are associated with having a higher marginal utility when paralyzed. The results suggest that more than full insurance of income losses connected to being disabled is optimal. The results further suggest that, given a utilitarian social welfare function, resources should be transferred to rather than from disabled people. Finally, if the transfers are not large enough to smooth out the marginal utilities of the disabled and the nondisabled, distributional weights based on disability status should be used in cost–benefit analysis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

his note studies the impact of immigration on welfare state generosity in 12 Western European countries. In estimations not coping with the possible endogeneity problem, there are indications of a negative relationship between immigration and welfare state generosity. However, when the distance to the Balkan wars are used as a source of exogenous variation in the immigrant share, as to overcome potential endogeneity in mobility across countries, our findings suggest that an increase in the immigrant share does not decrease welfare state generosity.

This paper uses nationally representative panel data to analyse the relationship between income diversification and incomes for Zambian smallholder households.We show that shifting to a higher degree of diversification is generally associated with higher incomes. We find that diversification is driven by endowments and access to markets and finance. Education opens up opportunities for well-paid non-agricultural activities, while land shortage forces distress diversification into agricultural wage work.